We all know how important location is when either selling or renting a home. Regardless of the amenities your vacation home offers, its proximity to the water, beaches, shopping, restaurants, and other area attractions is also certainly of great interest to prospective tenants. Or not! Some may well prefer to be as far removed as possible from many of these otherwise popular attractions.
Does your listing amply market your location?
On some vacation rental websites, a link to a satellite map is required to be posted for every listing. The link for a map on WeNeedaVacation.com, however, is an optional feature and must be enabled by the homeowner. It is understandable that some homeowners have security concerns due to the fact that the map contains their exact street address. Where Cape Cod and the Islands are such seasonal locations, some fear that providing their exact address could be risky, especially in the off season.
But we believe that many of our homeowners do not realize that this feature is disabled by default, and they neglect to check the box on their “Enter and modify description and amenities” page to enable the “View Map” link on their listing. Thus, vacationers are able to view the map locations of other properties but not theirs. So, unless you have security concerns about showing your exact street address, we strongly recommend that you check your listing and make sure the “View Map” link located near the top of your listing is indeed enabled.
Whether or not you choose to provide a map indicating your exact location, be sure that your property description, and even your picture captions, adequately convey as much information as possible about your location. Your home may not be within walking distance of a beach, for example, but being within easy access of shops and restaurants could well be even more attractive to certain vacationers – especially if they have older kids, for whom it allows greater independence than being on a beach but in the “middle of nowhere.” For more information, read guest blogger Luisa Frey’s post about promoting your location to families.
Do you have an active link on your listing to a satellite map of your location? If not, is it because you have security concerns? And regardless, does your listing adequately convey the advantages of your location?
